When I started working with my Uncle Bob last summer, I assumed that construction would be an easy, fun way to make a few extra bucks. However, I quickly discovered that construction work was serious business, filled with risks, difficulty, and rewards. After almost being creamed by a few backhoe booms, I learned how to stay out of the way. However, staying safe around heavy machinery isn't always easy to do. My blog talks about how to use machinery properly and what you need to do to stay safe so that you can return home to your family each and every day.

Staying Safe Around Heavy Machinery

Why You Should Use And How To Use A Stump Grinder

16 June 2015

Ashley Hayes

When a tree dies, the stump the tree leaves behind can be a perpetual source of problems for a homeowner. As long as you know what you are doing, you can remove stumps on your own and reclaim your yard for other uses.

Why Remove Stumps

Stumps can retain life even after you lop off the tree. In an effort to regenerate a tree, your stump can send out a seemingly endless supply of shoots, and if you don't trim these back, they can grow into an unsightly tangle of branches. Thus, you may find that you are cutting back suckers from your stump every few months. Eventually your stump will die, but that doesn't mean your problems are over.

A dead stump can attract ants, termites, wasps, fungi, mold, and other pests. Not only will a stump allow these insects to make a base camp while they explore other possible nesting sites in your yard, but they can also serve as a staging ground for pests that are trying to find a way into your home. Furthermore, spores from the fungi growing on a dead stump can find their way into open wounds on healthy trees and make them sick. Thus, to keep your home and your yard safe, you need to get rid of stumps.

How to Use a Stump Grinder

Stump grinders are powerful machines, but they are easy to use. You will have three controls: drive, arm control, and wheel control. Use the following steps to grind a stump:

1. Use a shovel or mattock to remove rocks within the top four-inches of soil around your stump.

2. Start the grinder and raise the arm.

3. Drive the grinder into position so that the front edge of the grinding wheel makes contact with the first six inches of the stump.

4. Start the grinding wheel and lower the grinding wheel into the stump. Go three inches at a time so that you don't overload the grinder.

5. As you lower the wheel, move it from side to side so that you grind the whole stump instead of just a section.

6. Once you have ground the stump down to a point four inches below ground level, raise the arm, drive the grinder forward six inches, and repeat the process.

7. Continue grinding in this way until you have removed the whole stump.

8. Shut the grinder off or move to the next stump and repeat the process.

9. Rake up and dispose of the wood chips.

10. Cover the hole with topsoil and sprinkle grass seed.

Removing a stump is a task that most homeowners can handle on their own, but it does take time and requires some manual labor. If you want to rid your yard of stumps, but you can't or would rather not grind stumps on your own, you can hire a tree service company to do the grinding for you. Either way, grinding stumps is a necessary part of keeping your yard and your home healthy and free of pests. For more information, contact a company like Rentals And More Inc.